8-string string configuration question

I bought a Lanikai O-8 on ebay the other day. At $150, it was a pretty good deal. On arrival, the neck joint had failed because of poor packing and UPS handling. After a little negotiation, we agreed on splitting the loss, so i ended up with a broken 8-string for $75.

I managed to clean out the joint, glue it up with some tightbond original and then installed a screw from the inside of the body into the heel of the neck to ensure a lifelong joint.

I was able to do all this without removing the strings, but now as I prepare to tune the uke up and take it for a spin, I am a bit confused with the string layout. My understanding is that on 8-string ukes, the string layout is as follows...

1. High A
2. High A
3. High E
4. High E
5. Low C
6. High C
7. Low G
8. High G

Obviously, 1-4 are easy. My issue is with 5-8. On my Lanikai and on every other Lanikai I was able to find a closeup picture of, string 5 is a large diameter nylon string and string 7 is a large diameter wound steel string. Additionally, string 6 is smaller in diameter than string 8. In both these cases, I would expect these to be backwards. The steel string should be the lowest (low C) and the lowest high string (string 6) should be the second fattest string (the non-steel low string would be the fattest).

Am I missing something here or does lanikai set their ukes up wrong (I doubt it). It seems to me that if the high C string is smaller in diameter than the high G string, the High G string will have a much higher tension than the high C string.

Can someone set me straight here?

The lowest pitch string is the Low G. The Low C is the same C as "standard" tuning. The High C is the same pitch as the A string, third fret.

Thanks for the info. This makes total sense with the string diameters. I her all tuned up and she sounds great, for about 30 seconds. There are just way too many strings to stretch out and with the pairs of strings, it sounds horrible in a hurry.

All told, I am thrilled with my new $78 uke.